HRSD is preparing to recycle water that previously was treated and released to the environment from the James River Treatment Plant. SWIFT, the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow will put the highly treated water through additional advanced treatment processes to become SWIFT Water™, treated to meet drinking water standards. The SWIFT Water™ will be used to recharge the Potomac Aquifer (our regional groundwater supply that has been overused for decades).

The new SWIFT treatment facilities at the James River Treatment Plant will produce 16 million gallons of SWIFT Water™ each day. Each well has the capacity to recharge the aquifer with up to two million gallons per day. Therefore, multiple wells are required to meet the target recharge capacity. The wells are spread throughout the park because they require separation to reduce their influence on each other when recharging the aquifer.

Up to ten wells will be operated daily to support recharge, allowing for up to two of the wells to be taken out of service for cleaning (backflush) or maintenance. HRSD can accommodate four on the James River Treatment Plant property, and the remaining six have been located in areas around River View Farm Park.

The pumps that recharge the aquifer with SWIFT Water are located at the treatment plant. Water is sent under pressure via underground pipes from the treatment plant to the wells in the well houses and directly into the aquifer without additional pumping.

The well houses protect the well heads and above ground equipment associated with the recharge wells (where SWIFT Water™ enters the aquifer, hundreds of feet below the ground). The equipment in each well house includes piping, valves, and a large backflush pump. The well house protects the equipment from the weather and conceals the industrial look of this equipment in an attractive building similar in appearance to other park facilities. The well houses will also be equipped with exterior amenities park goers will be able to enjoy, including some with restrooms and shelter areas.

No, well house operations will not produce odors. SWIFT Water™ is drinking-water-quality water that is treated to match the existing groundwater chemistry within the aquifer and is odorless.

These well backflush pumps withdraw water from the well to clean the well much like the way a pool filter is backwashed periodically to keep the filter from clogging. During normal operations, backflushing occurs once or twice a day for 30 to 60 minutes. The water withdrawn from the well during backflushing is piped back to the plant, using a separate dedicated pipe, where it can be put back into the treatment process. Pump backflush will be asynchronous. Pumps will be backflushed when the pressure builds up from screen blinding. While we would like to schedule them at night, there may be times they occur randomly during the day.

The only noisy equipment in the well house is the backflush pump used periodically for cleaning the well (running less than twice daily for up to an hour each time). HRSD is designing and constructing each well housing with sound dampening materials, such as acoustical CMU and sound dampening blankets, to reduce the noises heard to levels well below city requirements. Testing will be performed before and after construction to confirm the sound levels from pump operation are appropriately reduced to near background level.

To avoid peak electrical demand charges, backflushing may be scheduled for overnight hours. The frequency and duration of backflushing is set by pressure build-up within the recharge well and could occur at any time.

HRSD will access the well house buildings several times per week utilizing a golf cart or bicycle on the existing trail. From time-to-time, major repairs or maintenance will require HRSD to use larger equipment to access the well houses. These events will be coordinated with Newport News Park officials.

Newport News Parks and Recreation will develop the education material for the pump houses.

HRSD will work with Parks and Recreation to develop temporary trail routes and modify park access as needed for people to continue park enjoyment. When safe access cannot be maintained, disruptions may occur; these disruptions will be minimized as much as possible.

This section of the trail will remain open as much as possible for access to the overlook. You may experience temporary closures when safe access cannot be maintained such as during construction of the new trail around HRSD’s property.

The existing dog park will remain accessible during construction as much as possible. Temporary closures may occur during relocation of fencing and amenities.

The building will be demolished as part of HRSD’s improvements to the park. HRSD will provide a temporary meeting space for public usage until the Administration Building meeting space is available for reservations.

There will not be a fee.

The meeting space may accommodate 30 to 40 people depending on the table setup.

The City Archeologist will be notified in advance of park earth-moving construction. If artifacts are discovered during construction, HRSD will work with the City to properly excavate the discoveries.

Please contact Newport News Parks and Recreation for information regarding the park.

The Managed Aquifer Recharge wells are necessary to convey SWIFT Water™ to the Potomac Aquifer. There are a total of ten wells required for conveyance, six of which are located within the City’s property.

No. The drilling process used to make the borehole for the well uses fluids and is conducted at very low pressures and volumes. The fluids are used to cool the drill bit, help remove the soil cuttings and keep the borehole open. 

No. The well installation process is completely separate from your water and sewer service provided by the City of Newport News.

No. Drilling is conducted using a rotary drill bit, similar to drilling into wood. The drill bit cuts the soil and removes it from the hole; there is no driving hammer used to advance the hole.

While standing close to the drill rig, the sound can be loud; however, the measurements of sound drop off relatively quickly with distance. At 75 feet from the site, the noise is below the sound of normal city traffic, and at 100 feet from the site, the noise is similar to normal conversation. Where drilling occurs close to residential housing, sound barriers will be erected to reduce sound from drilling.

Well sites with vegetative buffers and over 300-feet from residential neighborhoods will have a 24-hour schedule to shorten the overall construction schedule and disruption to the public. Well sites without vegetative buffers and less than 300-feet from residential neighborhoods will be drilled on a 12-hour schedule, typically during daylight hours. Wells with a 12-hour drilling schedule may be adjusted to accommodate additional hours this increase will be based on well activities, time or year with increased vegetative buffer or installed sound dampening barriers. 

For well sites that have a 24-hour schedule, well installation may take approximately 8 months per well. For well sites that have a 12-hour schedule installation may take approximately 10 months per well. The entire project should be completed in early 2026.

The wells will be installed to a total depth of approximately 1,200 feet below the ground surface, with some minor variation at each site. The wells will be designed to interact with the Potomac Aquifer, starting at approximately 400 feet below the ground surface and continuing to the bottom of each well.

No. The wells are being constructed to connect to the deep aquifer system (400 – 1200 feet below the surface) and will have no effect on surface features. Your home’s foundation, surface features and yard will not be impacted by well installation.

No. The site recharge wells serving the James River SWIFT facility are being drilled to a much lower elevation than any residential water wells adjacent to the site, conveying SWIFT Water™ into the Potomac Aquifer. In addition, groundwater moves at a very slow pace and the farther SWIFT Water™ moves away from the recharge wellfield, the slower it travels. This means that it may take up to 100 years or longer for SWIFT Water™ to migrate to a residential well.

This project is part of the commitment HRSD made in the land purchase agreement with the City. This agreement includes approximately 2 miles of additional trails to include mixed-use, pedestrian only, boardwalk, and asphalt. These trails will offer new experiences of wildlife, water views, and areas to rest and enjoy the new park amenities.

HRSD coordinated conceptual trail routes with the City of Newport News Parks and Recreation Department and shared this information with the community during open house meetings, on social media and HRSD.com. The conceptual trail routes were part of the HRSD land purchase agreement with the City of Newport News.

Trails will be located on HRSD and City property. The area around the James River Treatment Plant will accommodate a new pedestrian only trail connecting Riverview Farm Park to City Farm. This mix of boardwalk and asphalt trail will offer expansive views of the James River. Other trails will be located in the City’s City Farm area of Riverview Farm Park, Riverview Farm Park and to Menchville Marina.

Due to the discovery of human remains in the area of the new Flax Mill Creek trail, HRSD’s Unanticipated Discovery Plan was initiated in coordination with the City of Newport News Archaeologist, City of Newport News Police Department and Medical Examiner’s Office, Department of Historic Resources (DHR), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This discovery has stopped work in this trail area since August 2023 and will delay the timely completion of trail construction.  As required by Department of Historic Resources, HRSD’s engineering team, specifically our archaeological consultants, James River Institute for Archeology, submitted a plan and received a permit for further investigation of the area. This investigation is now complete. The results of the investigation have determined the presence of an unmarked cemetery within the proposed path of the trail. The history and identity of those interred in the unmarked cemetery are unknown. However, Department of Historic Resources determined that it would be inappropriate to exhume and re-inter the multiple persons discovered in this area.  All documentation of the discovery has been provided to the Department of Historic Resources, the City of Newport News, and to other involved federal, state, and local agencies. To complete construction of this section of trail, HRSD has worked with our engineering team to avoid the unmarked cemetery by realigning the trail to the west of the initial path within the designated recreation easement and City-owned property.  The area east of the impacted trail section is not suitable for trail realignment as it is private property and is encumbered by stormwater management ponds and the treatment plant. This necessary and limited realignment plan has been approved by Department of Historic Resources and by the City of Newport News, as it provides sensitive and respectful consideration for those interred and for the historical nature of the area. 

This cemetery was unmarked and therefore not previously known by federal, state, and local agencies. All federal, state, and local permitting requirements and procedures were followed. Our construction permits required both desktop and field investigations to identify all known environmental and historical considerations. During this process, no considerations were identified within this area of the trail, therefore the planned path was given all approvals for construction. While the project followed all federal, state, and city requirements for permitting, unforeseen conditions and discoveries may still occur during construction. HRSD was prepared for this potential situation by having an approved Unanticipated Discovery Plan documented prior to the start of construction. Clearing and excavation work for a boardwalk section of the trail resulted in the discovery. HRSD’s team members are working to properly document and protect the unmarked cemetery from future disturbance.

The City of Newport News Parks and Recreation Department plans on opening the entire new trail system when all construction work is complete. This means the early opening of the trail section from the Menchville Marina to the new parking lot is now delayed and will coincide with completion of the entire new trail system. All trails will be completed by 2026, and will provide a total of almost two miles of new trails in Riverview Farm Park.

Although sections of the trail may appear complete, this area is still an active construction area and is not open for walking, biking, or driving vehicles. Please be safe and do not enter the areas of the new trail system at this time.

A public parking area will be provided at the trail head as part of this project. Additional parking will be available near the trail head once HRSD’s new Administration Building is open.

Regular project updates are posted on the HRSD website at www.hrsd.com/construction-status. You may also sign up at www.hrsd.com/subscriptions to receive an email notification whenever the website has an update about the project. To learn more about SWIFT or to schedule a tour of the SWIFT Research Center (located at HRSD’s Nansemond Treatment Plant in Suffolk, VA), please visit SWIFTVA.com.